Cosa Nostra
by Ovmalk
Summary: Don Lino is right- the time seems to be right to step down and make some changes around here, perhaps put his son in charge. He simply doesn't realize why. Possible Lenny/OC eventually, Oscar/Angie. Warning: Gritty universe, character death.
1. Playing a new angle

**A/N**: Ok, let's start working on my first story here, I decided I wanted to pick this fandom to start judging by how much I like fiction about the mob and how nerdy I wam with documentaries about it and books and stuff. (If someone wants to recommend me any works regarding the Italian mob it is very welcome.)

**warning**: This story about organized crime HAS organized crime. I alway find this movie amusing because no violent or otherwise uncomfortable crimes happen in  
the screenplay- and I like it that way. But that is not what I'm writing this fanfic for: I'm hoping to write a grittier depiction of the mafia in the story you see before you. Also note that as was mentioned in a study on the history of Mafia: Profanity will be present. But I have tried to tone down, in their vocabulary, the amount and context in which profanity is used.

**Disclaimer**: None of the copyrighted material is owned by the author of this story. You might stumble about themes from The Sopranos, Goodfellas, The Godfather, School of Rock (Believe it or not), Real life events from historical crimes committed in many places in the world, maybe even Ronin and other copyrighted material I may list as I go. What you will not find is references to the copyrighted material listed as no-go zones in 's terms and conditions, and of course any ongoing investigation or other delicate legal matters. Do well to remember that Shark Tale is a screenplay which has many pop-culture references in on itself and these, of course, are bound to be mentioned.

**Premise**: I was hoping to provide a Shark Tale sequel with a grittier setting and to take more risks than the movie was allowed to: Thus bringing to life a world in which the mafia acts more like the mafia we see in other media than the mafia we see in Shark Tale. It means, of course, that this story is not for everyone. Perhaps later on I may make something more light-toned and campier, but this isn't the time.

**Prologue**:

If Don Lino had know that all it took was for Lenny to do what he liked to do in peace and have his tastes left alone he'd have left him alone. Well maybe he still would have had this trepidation, sure, but he may have considered it. The situation was being handled smoothly though. His boys were seeing to that. Having the whale wash as part of the business now, a front for their distinguished operation provided many things for them. As long as Don Lino was personally involved with the whale wash appearances seemed far more reputable for them. It also meant other things were bound to happen.

Like Prago swimming at the joint trailing blood.

"Lenny!" Prago called his voice a panic, his fin badly mauled, blood floating everywhere. "Open the door!" No greeting, nothing remotely resembling etiquette- and worse, no discretion. 'The door' in question did not lead to the same joint the whales did their washing in, though. Mr. Sykes had learned very early on that sharks were a very touchy bunch, most of all these. They hanged apart of them, and though not unwilling to speak to Oscar, Angie or Sykes they seemed to be big on privacy when they'd drop by. Something about the Omertà that had their huge jaws tight as clams.

"Jesus Christ- Prago, don't stand on the fucking doorway like that!" Lino barked as Lenny grabbed a towel- what? "What are you doing? Help me pull im' inside!" Lenny dropped the towel to comply, placing his fin on the shark's side and hoisting his weight a little. Lenny knew what's what: having Prago bleeding all around the entrance without shutting that door. It wouldn't be a surprise if there was more priority to clean up after him than to clean him up.

"Sorry pop" It was a tense response, judging by this he could do with cutting the habit of apologizing quickly- but that was Frankie's thing, not his! He'd never been good at the tough guy! "Lenny close the door- Prago what's the matter with you?" He said, now he was not molly coddling this shmuck: If he wanted that he'd be in his momma's house, not here. "You drag this into the clean money, you out of your mind? How long did you move in the open?" Lenny could already see that there'd be a lecture involved. He was used to that part of their lives to not be surprised that harpoon injury or not Lino was always ready to strip you down. He added pain to injury then by shoving Prago over an old workbench, pushing the tools aside and scolding him again. "Alright, Prago let me take a look at it. What'd you bring me?" The stab was nasty.

And that was Lenny's cue, he swam up to where he'd left the towel and took it to press somewhere probably. "Oh gee, pop, is the angle grinder necessary?" he groaned when Luca started making use of it.

"Hold him Lenny" There were protests from Prago immediately, some threats were involved, most where ignored. The power tool's sawing through metal was accompanied by the muffled sounds of someone wanting to tell all of the South Reef they decided to make frankenstein monster in the garage of the Wash joint. The sounds grew weaker in intensity and it was disturbing how much the harpoon just wanted to stay there.

But as it turned out they had removed the intruding object from him and were now closing up the injury the old-fashion way. "The whole thing is serrated, Luca, take a look at that."

"Animali" The octopus said in disgust, as if there was a line to be drawn between a serrated harpoon and using the angle grinder and the flat-head to cut through it when it was in someone's body. He should be grateful that he could still hear Prago moaning his protest at the pressed towels and the sealing.

"Alright, Prago, Prago" Lino gestured, voice gentler now that the place seemed clean and that there just may be a solution to whatever bag of eels just fell on them, he prodded his face a few times, smacking him softly once for him to look at him. "Look at me. Start from the top." He said, then Prago started talking sense.

"Let me sit up a little" He answered gruffly settling back and talking. Talking was good; it kept him focused and with them. "Me and Adriano was making our ways up the Northern valley. We was stalkin' the area, waiting to receive the vig from Badaloccio. Badaloccio had us wait for him for a good time. For a moment there we thought that he'd been tipped off. We should've known he hadn't. We was about to call it a night and go home when Adriano saw him.

_"'Bout time, here he comes" Adriano's gruff voice told him, turning his head from where they'd camped out, just far enough not to be visible from the man's house. They'd been tipped that Badaloccio would pick up a pack from the bakery. Not wanting to make a mess they had decided to wait on him here. This wasn't a job; a mess would be un-called for._

_Prago nodded and they turned from the corner as Badaloccio walked by, grabbing his fins and pulling him back into the corner. Badaloccio was a big guy- but that's why they'd been assigned for the job: Send numbers to deal with the blue up north. "Keep quiet." Prago demanded, shoving the creature once against the wall, its slender tail ceasing to trash when he knew he was outnumbered._

_"What is it you want?" Came the slightly accented demand. Biscay bay? No, Celtic Sea more like. This one was young, no older than Andy, but Prago was sworn under more than ten rules and one or two oaths. He couldn't hesitate now. He should have known there was something wrong about how Badaloccio kept his cool._

_"Relax, you're in no trouble, as long as you have your loan for us."_

_"I already told your lieutenant," He said, referring to what Prago rather called their 'Sgarrista'. "I have nothing for you"._

_"I'm not my lieutenant, Badaloccio I'm me." Adriano said, shoving him harder. "You answer to me now, and I'm not asking either."_

_"So it's about roughing me up? I ain't scared of you!" Prago would have warned him, but it was too late, Adriano was a temperamental big guy with an inferiority complex. When Adriano dragged Badaloccio to the alley dumpster Prago made nothing of it, not listened to Badaloccio's protests. Instead he watched dispassionately as the man was shoved repeatedly, regardless of the damage done. The dumpster must have given Badaloccio the advice needed because he swore soon enough he could get the money._

_"See? That's why we have to communicate." Prago mocked with a smirk. "Ain't that right, Adriano?"_

_"Mhmm, way more cooperative." Adriano confirmed. "Now lead on, friend, we'll go pick up this money with you. The guy couldn't be stupid enough to think we'd let him swim off like that._

_It wasn't long that the shark had started swimming deeper and deeper into the Celtic sea, Prago staying very close to their little paycheck and Adriano following carefully behind, providing protection. How could he have not known? Prago did most of the talking, since Adriano looked tired, or torn to him. He had the right idea; Prago reflected, looking around and making sure they were alone was the best bet. Or so he had thought then._

_He stopped thinking like this when there was rustling behind them and he turned to face Adriano, harpoon drawn._

"I was out cold for most of it; they didn't think the harpoon was enough so they smacked my head with the back of the launcher a few times. But I could have sworn I heard Dolphins." Dolphins could only mean one thing: And it lingered in the air. Someone had connections, big ones: Not just anybody can buy the law.

"Seemed like a good kid." Lino complained, voice stern in anger. "Here we are, givin' him a family, home, job and look how he pays us." He tensed further, fins behind his back, a gesture nor he nor Lenny tended to notice they did when they meant business. Then he thought about it for a minute, Lenny waiting for what his pop would do about this.

Lino turned to Luca and started doing what he did: Administrating. "Luca, I want you to make a few phone calls: I want to know what's happening up there. The Fuzz should know 'bout those pigs. Call Everio up at the station, he's in our pocket. Use his cellphone, ask if he knows anything about the Celt station and what's what up there."

He noticed the type of silent stare Lenny was giving him and put that thought away for later. If there was pressure coming in from the north Lino would need him. Part of him wanted to react by keeping his boy away from this mess when it was unstable but he knew better than to think that Lenny would come out unscathed if this went south. This WASN'T going south. He'd worked too hard for Merina and Lenny to get whacked with him in some restaurant with some bathroom gun or something equally atrocious.

"Sure thing, Boss." Manny wondered how that idiot got to be consigliore. What many people didn't know was that when you wanted a consigliore you looked for an accountant, if you couldn't get your find on one, you looked for the next best thing: The freak with the neuron-filled tentacles that could only memorize patterns. Then you gave him an abacus and started giving instructions.

"Pop you don't think this is going to escalate, do you?" Lenny asked, while Luca made his way to the phone and instinctively dialed the number that came to mind. Seeing as he didn't want anything else, it was the right one. He was asking questions soon enough- that was obviously not his forte.

"I don't like not knowing, Lenny, and right now I don't know." He said tone far less authoritative when it came to his -now- only son. The thought of Frankie did what it always did; bring a stab of pain and make him quiet for a moment. "We should get back, all of us, punch out and talk to Sykes, we're going home." He said, pinning the towel on Prago on Lenny's stead and grabbing Lenny's belt where he kept his cleaning gear to clean up after the other shark.

Lenny opened the door carefully, fully aware that secrecy was of the utmost importance to them. He punched out, knowing Sykes wasn't going to protest Don Lino picking him up then turned to find many eyes on him. Oscar was the first thing he noticed. Not telling his best friend was going to be the hardest part, that and very hypocritical. He swallowed once and knew he couldn't look at Angie. "I'm gonna have to clock out early." He said, turning to swim his way to the office. He could sense Oscar follow him as the rest dispelled and spoke about it among them.

"You know, I could tell Sykes." He offered, voice concerned, especially given that Lenny's usually energetic demeanor wasn't there right now. But Lenny knew what it was; an invitation to talk about it. And he wanted to, truly he did, but the situation was just so delicate. Still he owed Oscar something and he knew the fish may be prone to lying and impulsive but he wasn't a bad friend. So he turned and took the offer.

"Thanks, I shouldn't take long in his office anyway; just tell him something came up, and pop needs me." He said, starting to swim away, stopping only when the conscience hit him. "Oscar, you know we're not the only thing out there, right?" He asked cryptically.

"Yeah I know." To Oscar it was pretty much Lenny telling him that there was a problem from outside. Outside being the Reef. Still what could possibly be a problem from the outside to them? They were huge! And they were so many! Best talk to Angie about this.


	2. Underboss

Marco had heard about Prago. Vini was the one to tell him. Which was why he hadn't been surprised to be called to a sit-down. What did surprise him was how jumpy some of the members were here; almost as if they were the ones to get whacked next. Hell, one or two looked like they suspected they'd get whacked here and now.

Then it was all kisses, holding and kindness all around and for a moment the tension was lost.

Don Lino was running late, but then Don Lino had carte Blanche to run late if that's what he did. And he did, he did it often. Marco swore it had to be a boss thing: An old contact of his would say his boss' underboss would even start menial things without the Don without him so that the big guy didn't have to even deal with them.

But the truth was that a Don could only run late when meeting with other bosses and this wasn't the case. In fact Marco was completely sure that the only reason they didn't have an underboss speaking to them right now was because the family didn't count with an underboss right then. "And why is that?" He finished, turning to Giuseppe. He didn't make a habit of talking to Giuseppe an awful lot but Jim wasn't here. This meeting was strictly among made sharks. Which was an uncommon in this family. It only happened when Lino was very angry,

Or when he was very paranoid.

"That's cause we don' have one, dumbfins!" And there was why they couldn't have a nice conversation. The pick that got made lately, you'd think they'd carry themselves like they'd been hand-picked at all.

"Easy, easy, no need to be bustin' my- Never mind" Marco let it slide and turned to the ten sitting almost at the head of the table. "Just tell me again why we're here if this is so important. I'm sure Benny would love to tell us all about it when he gives us the taste, ya know how much our cap' likes to run his jaw." he added, gesturing to their own capo engaged in his own conversation with Finny.

His answer was cut short in the sudden quiet. It was as if nobody had been speaking at all when Lino opened the door to the room. Luca had saved him a seat once more: As consigliere he got to sit on that chair each time, dorsal fin or no. The poor sushi fodder still hadn't figured that out himself. How he ran numbers the way he did, Marco would never know.

"Hopefully none of you know why I called this meeting." Lino said, tone polluting the water with tension. Angry? Thought Marco. It was then the Boss of the local Bosses tossed the broken harpoon on the table. Oh, paranoid then. "Or what that is." The silence was alarming. On one hand they would never say it, but on the other Marco knew he couldn't be the only one wishing someone just raised his fin and got the hit quickly so the Don wouldn't suspect all of them. Well Lenny wasn't looking as panicked and bewildered as the rest of them did but sitting on the left of that empty chair Marco guessed nobody would. He just gave them all a calculating look once- it was a split second- that they rarely saw.

And for all that was holly and sacred why didn't Lino just take his seat? Marco didn't like how close he was to the door now more than any other sit-down he'd ever been to.

"Well, you all know I don't like thinking bad of my family" 'Oh no, please no, not the sweet wise-guy, don't give us the sweet wise-guy' thought Marco, as that tended to be the tone of conversation which ended with them all killed in a bistro in some street in the reef- or maybe he'd been watching too many movies. "And you all know how much this family means to me. That's why this breaks my heart so much." What breaks his heart? That he thinks someone here put the hit on Prago or that he was gonna whack em all? Was he gonna whack em all? Marco thought about to faint here.

"Hey boss, I didn't know you'd figured out we had some cugine here." Lino rolled his eyes, expression clearly reflecting that Luca always did this. He shook his head and finally made his way to the head of the table to the seat Luca always saved him.

"Well now that the reason for this meeting is ruined, there's something else we should address." How is it Lino managed to still be intimidating when Luca just threw the whole tension off. For what it was worth Marco found a new love for the octopus deep in him for that.

The comment still earned him a laugh from the sharks present, it would be pretty funny if he didn't suspect his own crew right now. But it still helped to ease the tension.

"Some of you know I have been considering this for some time now and even considered it a certainty even but now more than ever it's clear to me how much more comfortable I would be when this matter was settled." Lenny looked a little lost, apparently. This wasn't in the 'other' sit-down, it seemed. Marco always supposed it was more of a little talk among the members in some living room like in the movies but either way the result was always the same; when Lino addressed them the very top; usually his kids- well, son- and his consigliere plus Don Feinberg were ahead of the program most of the time.

Apparently Lenny wasn't. "And given I could use an underboss to work with right now, it's obvious I have to address this already." Lenny frowned once, and Marco could swear he saw the exact moment the pup got up with the program by the look of shock and appalling that crossed his expression and how he shook his head once in a futile attempt to say no, then kept his jaw shut and gave the table a single miserable look before looking at them like nothing had happened. He tried to cover that by scratching his snout but Marco had gotten pretty good at this- hey these meetings were boring what else was he supposed to do?

And if he caught it then the top guys caught that for sure. It could mean one of two things, depending on what Lino said next: Either the pup didn't want the job or he didn't want anyone else to have it.

"And I'm not about to lie to myself here, you all know who's got the job." And that was that. Congratulations started flying around, sharks started kissing and patting the poor pup and Marco, for a split second, wondered if he really should be happy for him at all- he looked so young right then. But then he shrugged it off to the fact that Lenny and Frankie had been coming to these sit-downs since he had age to sit still... well mostly still.

And Lenny looked so dutifully happy too: Almost on the verge of tears even.

* * *

His dad went on about what an underboss did and what he was there for, how he would eventually take over should the worse happen; a dutiful echo of God-forbid followed that comment. Other sharks sort of swarmed him, there were a lot of congratulations, kind thoughts, loving gestures and to anyone that didn't know what was going on; one would think Lino had just announced Lenny was getting married.

Lenny swam out of that meeting a little faster than he should have and he knew it. But no underboss ever broke down in front of the crew; ever! It was only when he'd reached the hall to the opulent dining room of the titanic that he stopped, breathing hard, gills expanding rapidly, that he even noticed his fins were shaking when he brought them up to his snout to cover it, with it his eyes and hopefully just be left alone to die. He vaguely remembered excusing himself, did he excuse himself?

That had been quick, he reflected, like ripping a Band-Aid. Any hopes of having a life of his own, any choice in the matter, anything else he could want. He hadn't even been made. He had plans! Did his old man even think about that? He always figured he'd be told he was being made and then he could break it to his pop, talk to him calmly about it.

That wasn't the only thing either. This was always Frankie's. The thought choked him up when he was confronted by the reality of why he was so upset. Frankie, who listened to everything pop had to say, who learned the talk, who knew the crew, who ate with em and put pressure on em and who had them already deep in conversation when pop got to any sit-down. Hell, he had been doing the job ever since he first suspected he could possibly get it: They HAD an underboss, and that's what hurt so badly when he really thought about it.

When the damn broke he muffled the whimper and a sniff with his fin and looked around. He needed fresh water. He wasn't going to swim away from this but he still needed to go outside for fresh water or he was going to drown here. The only advantage to everyone wanting the job he now had was that if he encountered someone he could always sweep it under the rug as being emotional for finally getting this position.

He thought about going to Oscar about this; then the weight of that oath smacked his back. He couldn't. What was he going to do? Break the omertà and put his and Oscar's life in danger? For what; cause he was feeling down? No he couldn't do that. He didn't even know why he ended up in this clearing. There was no reason for him to come here again and truthfully what drew him here were dark places in his mind that he didn't want to visit to find out.

"You're still here." He said, tone contemplating, looking at the anchor he'd tossed aside at some point in his panic that day. He grabbed a pebble and absently tossed it off-handedly at the anchor once. It hit its surface and due to the sitting rust it seemed to make a bit of damage. It was an old thing, after all. Lenny blinked, breathed hard, and then grabbed another rock, big enough to fill the whole tip of his fin. He didn't plan to throw it so much as smash the thing with it. Repeatedly.

"I'm sure the anchor will confess." came the smooth feminine voice when he'd forced the iron thing down and judging by the floating flakes of rust taken a good beating at it. It was probably his own yells that brought her here so there was no smooth way of sweeping this one under the rug. "Bad day I take it." The shark pressed. He thought about telling her something polite and dismissive and about how he didn't have time for this until he took a good look at her. Well maybe he did have time for this.

"Nah, I'm celebrating, actually." He said sarcastically. Oath, Lenny, oath, don't do this to yourself. He thought more bitterly.

"It did sound like a party." She quipped. "No wonder."

"Yeah, real ball. Why are you here?"

"I don't know; why are _you_ here?" She said, and Lenny should have known that she'd be evasive, since when did things go for him today? So he decided he wouldn't mess with her.

"I'm celebrating a promotion that my brother should have gotten- god rest his soul."

"Oh! Oh I'm sorry, I should leave." She said, awkwardly, holding her fins up apologetically. Great Lenny, beautiful, that's how you don't do it! He thought in self-depreciation.

"No, I'm done celebrating. Besides you owe me an answer now." He added.

She smirked and he knew she was about to mess with him to try to relieve the tension. "I just got promoted too!" She quipped with a smirk and a laugh. Then sobered up and gestured for him to sit with her. "You know, I've wanted the job I just got for as long as I've been working where I did. In fact, the only reason I started working there was because of this job, and I don't know if this will mean anything and I mean no disrespect but I have a brother, he's a bit older than me; and if something ever happened to me, I would trust nobody else to do my job." She finished the water thick with unspoken emotions which were brought up by what she said.

"Now _I_ should go." He said, getting up. She looked awkward now so he put her at ease. "You didn't say anything wrong, relax, I've just been away long enough, pop's gonna think I swam away again." He laughed, she laughed with him. "But don't think I'm leaving without your name" He added jokingly. '_I'm responsible, not blind'_, he added mentally.

"Desideria, a pleasure." She said, reaching for a shake. Of course she's called Desideria; he thought in bitter sarcasm. What ELSE would she be called?

"Lenny, charmed," One had to wonder how he managed to make these stupid maneuvers! "Usually I work at the whale wash but I'll probably be out for a few days. Feel free to look me up though, Oscar would probably give you my number at the drop of a hat, trust me." And with that he was swimming away.

"'Feel free to look me up?' Oh my God." He groaned in retrospect as he made his way into the boat. "I may as well have said 'hi, I'm awkward, never come near me!'"


	3. Papers

"This is gonna put a strain on the family." Lino was telling Luca, still thinking over the suspicion he'd planted between them. Still, he needed to make sure to root out any more smartasses who thought they could just cross him like Adriano had.

"It will, Boss, but what Adriano did, was just disrespectful; they'd understand." Lino gave him a look from where he'd been sitting. "You know, after they've cleared out their names and stopped thinking you're gonna kill them." He corrected, to which Lino rolled his eyes at him.

Lenny sat across Luca listening to this, letting the octopus pass him ledger after ledger as he surveyed the number work that Luca had prepared. He was still very quiet but he'd calmed down significantly. That is until now. "I stick by what I said; if another family had bought out one of our own we'll start seeing the results soon." He said, paused and looked at his father. "We could have someone close find out, or we can start looking into this."

Lino thought about that for a moment. This wasn't the first time it came up either, but tailing his own crew required very careful planning. A thought occurred to him. "Maybe we're being observed from the outside. It wouldn't be the first wire I find in my window, Lenny." He said. "I'll see to that personally though, it can't be left to someone else." He said, willing to find anything involving all this. Lenny was looking up at him from the ledger he'd been reading and put it aside to get up.

"Pop how about we sit them down?" He asked.

"The crew?"

"The Bosses." He added, looking serious. Last time such a thing had happened it had been a blood-bath. "Remember last night?"

"We still have to talk about that" Lino admonished when reminded. "You swimming off like that. It looked bad."

"Sure, Pop, but who should I find when I swam off other than some civic in the middle of nowhere. That isn't all. Who finds a serrated harpoon these days? Whoever did this had a lot of human artifacts coming in and out." He told him.

"Still, rounding up the bosses is unrealistic." Lino said, "Who would we even round up? Don Armanio? Don Grimson? How far are we casting this net?"

"I'm not sure yet, pop, but we need some answers. The last thing we need is someone deciding they want to do a cleanup and take over." And that was true too: All it took was a good enough consensus and they were no longer untouchable. They had to have the first word before that sort of thing happened. Lenny was completely sure that should it happen it would bring the entire family down with them.

"Alright" Lino gave in, rubbing his temple once and turning to Luca. "Luca when you're done I want you to come with me, we're talking to Don Palomo about this, he came up with me, he can be trusted, he's practically family. Lenny, take some of the boys for a swim, I want you to drop by Alberto's if there was any local espionage he would know about it. After that I want you to tail Edwin's house, tell me everything. Don't get too close." He said, warningly. It was jarring to listen to Don Lino give him instructions the way he gave his consigliore. What was even more jarring was to see that these instructions were more important jobs: Simply because of what he was.

But he couldn't possibly turn it down, so he nodded and swam off.

The talk with Alberto had been brief, he didn't know anything and while at first he thought Lenny was in his shop as a customer the casual demeanor died down as soon as he saw the guys he came with. If he didn't approve he didn't say anything, but it was the fact that he was silently staring at him with a stern expression at all times all the while respectfully giving him whatever he asked for what threatened to drive Lenny mad.

The bitter experience had Lenny glaring at a corner for a moment before he decided not to mull over it too much and turned to one of the guys for conversation. It turned out this one was called 'Marco' and he was a pretty good listener while the other was called 'Mero' and he wasn't. But Lenny just smiled and listened to what they had to say unless there was something to keep an eye on for a long time. That is until he heard the keys. Then they silently stepped into position. They weren't going in; that'd be suicide, but they didn't take their eyes and ears off the dolphin as he went through his evening. They'd started to give up until more window monitoring revealed some papers. They'd made nothing of these papers if the dolphin hadn't decided to pull them out and start reading them, all the while placing a plastic bag with the sponge Lino had used to clean up the blood in the whale wash on the table.

"I'm getting that sponge." Lenny whispered, chilled by the idea that the Fish Bureau of Investigation could have evidence on them.

"Weren't we just talking about how your pop didn't want you in there?"

"We were"

"Then what? Are we supposed to let you just swim in and- wait, you can't just swim in there and grab it! They'll know someone took it!"

"Another lost case."

"You won't."

"I will." And there was that smirk again. Marco hated that smirk, everyone hated that smirk, it meant; it's stupid, you're all probably going down with me and I'm gonna do it. Usually it had been directed at Frankie, god rest his soul, Marco thought, who had always known what to do about it. "Let's just wait until he's cleared out."

Stealth wasn't Lenny's thing. He wasn't going to lie to himself. So the bigger argument wasn't that he wanted the papers brought to him but that he was willing to let Mero do the taking. Which made him more nervous than it should have. No turning back now, he thought as Mero grabbed the evidence and was pulled out the same window as he came. That was weird; Lenny was expecting shouts, blood, or at least bars on the windows. This guy hadn't been the one to come across this evidence that was for sure. He'd have to talk to his pop about it.

He was making his way back when he bumped into something.

"Why, this keeps happening, Lenny." No, why wasn't it ever bump onto the attractive shark on a weekend? Or when there was time? No, it had to be to nearly swim her over like an idiot. "What's that?" She asked, reaching to poke the strange looking sponge.

"Something for the job. What are you doing around here?" He said, taking it from her as soon as he could reach it.

"Working." He didn't miss Marco rolling his eyes and turning to make a comment at Mero about what a sad sight the boss made.

"Aha, and when aren't you working?" She had to grin; he thought that was a good sign.

"I'm not working tomorrow at six." Her smirk said she was purposefully taking that bait but there had been a split-second of hesitation. "When aren't you working?"

Lenny ignored the groan of _'I don't need to know this'_ from behind him and smirked back. "Tomorrow at six, in fact I'll just happen to be at the place we met last." He said, then realized he'd shoved his tail in his mouth and shook his head. "But I'm working now, gotta go." With that he was gone again, and again he was aghast at his awkward responses around this shark.

"You, my man, are going to die a virgin"

"You, my man are going to die a victim."

"No need to get hostile, boss." The blue shark said "You know I don't mean no disrespect." Somehow the way he said that was more a joke than it was an apology. Effectively it drew laughter from Marco as well as Mero laughing at his own tone.


	4. The sit down

The papers sat on the table as Don Lino thought about what they were going to do with this. "You don't buy in unless you're planning something big." He said, reflecting on what seemed like evidence on up to five of the families. The dates coincided with the evidence: Someone was paying good clams for this all to stay quiet, and it wasn't them.

"It could be another reef." Lenny said, looking the whole document over once to make sure he saw the most incriminated family in this entire investigation freezing up. "Pop look at this." He said, approaching Lino with another document. It was almost eerie. The paper was blank. All it said was 'Cape Agulhas'. Lino seemed to know what that was because he started passing the pages on that investigation. Blank, blank, blank. No locations, the forms were unfilled, there was no evidence, no names, nothing.

"This isn't a bribe, Lenny, this is an inside job." Lino said, calling to Luca. "Luca, who did you call?"

"I called everyone, boss." Luca's voice replied from the record room as Lenny examined the pages again. Lino was right; this kind of blatant evidence needed a babysitter. But who could they ask? Cape Agulhas was a place, not a name. Come to think of it the trench was a big place; lots of movement. There was money there coming from the Atlantic and the Indian, but only tough guys liked to swim in those waters. After all, there was big money and even bigger danger going on there.

"Lenny what about your sit down?"

"_My_ sit down?" He defended, the idea was for Lino to do that himself. But then again he was an underboss, Lino could simply not show up if it called for that. What would Frankie do? He vaguely pictured Frankie holding a fish over the piranha tank and making him explain it all- ok what would Frankie do if he wasn't his bloodthirsty brother? "I think we're not casting a wide enough net. We need to reach the right ones." But which were the right ones? He thought about it then looked at the papers and smirked. "We need to talk to all of the ones who show up here."

"What are you gonna do, bribe em?"

"Eh, thin line." He said, handing Lino the papers. "We need to let them know that we're looking after them. Once they know that we have a copy of the information the FBI has on them they'll be so courteous I wouldn't be surprised if they tried taking you out for dinner."

Lino gave him a look that said; 'And then you go and eat kelp, it's jarring.' "Where do you keep that?" He shook his head once, shrugging off his own rhetorical question. "We'll need to get them to drop their defenses for that to work; now I know you hate this but this isn't the crew, we can't talk business in the meeting room." He said, making Lenny look very much unhappy with that. He knew his pop wanted him to eat with these people.

"It won't look good if you don't show."

"This isn't my sit down." And now he _really_ couldn't refuse that offer. His dad was making it seem like he was doing this to secure Lenny a future. Who could say no to that? _Oh no, not the fatherly smile, anything but the fatherly smile!_

And that was how he ended up swimming in front of a dozen tables, waiters swimming by and surrounded by his closest crew. His fin tip thumbed the edges of the document copy in his fins in the closest thing to a fidget and he couldn't help but wishing he was pulling the dolphin act again. _That_ sit down had been less, well, lethal. "Don Grimson, so far south." He said, laying the accent thick and holding the narwhal close in a warm greeting, all the while avoiding that… err… thing on its head. The accent came in handy in these situations, especially if he said something he shouldn't have- there was the possibility that they hopefully wouldn't even understand what he was saying.

Which was precisely the case with Don Armanio from the Bermuda Triangle, fearsome guy: Never quiz Lenny on what he said. _How do I let pop talk me into these things? _Once he had the greetings he sat to eat with them, and broke that ice really quickly. As soon as he was seen eating the kelp he stared them down. _Come on, do it, any of you, say anything_. The thought had occurred to him little before arriving here with his crew and knew he'd been right to think of it when he saw that everyone here had three to five members of their own crew with them.

There was some laughter involved and he knew it was this or nothing. "Luca bring me the tank." Luca didn't question him and he started seeing his authority ripple out from where he was sitting to the sharks who resided closest to where his father lived; they knew what he was talking about. Luca placed the tank on a nearby table and the fish inside rattled viciously in protest of being moved away from 'daddy's office'. "I hope you know I don't mean no disrespect by bringing the pets here, but I simply cannot part with them." _Pop is gonna kill me when he sees the tank missing_. He thought unceremoniously grabbing from Giuseppe's plate and feeding the piranhas in the silence that ensued.

It was loud and clear: Ok so _I_ don't eat meat…

"Now that my babies are fed, to business." The laughter now was more measured which would have to do. They weren't afraid of him, by far, but they did start to comprehend why Lino would let him into the business to begin with: That would have to be enough for now. "Giuseppe you aint eating right now, hand these out." He said, giving the shark the copies as instructed. "As you can see, I didn't call you here to waste your time." He hoped he didn't look as scared as he felt. There could be one of two outcomes to this a-and they were yelling.

"Now, now, Gentlemen let us keep calm." Always appeal to their higher society. Mafiosi regarded themselves as high-class citizens; so much in fact that they went out of their way to seem so on top of the rules of polite society that they were above them. Speaking of being above polite society he owed Giuseppe a hundred clams. _Never owe nobody_. A chill came down his spine. Good time to be thinking about his brother. He looked briefly out the window and noticed it could have been the ocean temperature; the sea outside was turbulent as a storm raged on the surface; making faint light and some current happen bellow. The company seemed to have calmed a little but some were still arguing among themselves. _This is _your_ sit down, sit them down_. Ok he was officially going insane. "Quiet" He asked politely. _Moron_. "Shut up before I feed you to my fucking piranhas." He added in a cold tone. The sight of all those gazes on him made his heart race. That wasn't good. It was a deep feeling, sort of feral in its own right- oh he knew what it was but it didn't come with him eating his consigliore so- so then what?

Aware of everything, the current, the hearts and gills of the company he now kept, the movements and the smells; it was jarring. He wasn't aware he was glaring hard at them or the wide of his pupils as he sat back on the chair he'd gotten up from.

"Gentlemen." He corrected politely, pupils resuming their smaller size, allowing that innocent green in his eyes to be seen again. "Again, I don't mean no disrespect, but we can't behave like the common button now can we?"

"You'll have to understand our worry, Compare, now I'm sure many of you will understand we have some of the members on the clock for this. This sort of information, it makes a shark nervous." They seemed to agree to the expression, even though not all of them were, the giant Jellyfish in the back being one of them as he hovered up front to express himself- oh her. The thing was large enough to swallow a white-tip whole and had a voice that spoke of a lot of age.

"Your father holds all the cards in this meeting, yet I don't see him here, lieutenant." She said, accent thick from her own waters. "This meeting, it calls for a lot of trust. I do not trust what I do not see."

"I called this meeting on my father's behalf, Comare, he means only the best, and regrets he could not be here today." He answered; she seemed content- or whatever that rippling color scheme on her surface meant.

"Well what is it you want from calling this meeting? To threaten us?" Messing with tiger sharks was generally not a good idea- making them angry was even worse, so he answered quickly.

"I wouldn't threaten you, Don Francisco." He answered honestly- well that was the truth in nearly any situation. "In fact you're only here because my family wishes you all remain protected and united as we have for all these years." He could soon see the meeting was going to go well enough. With that he sat back down, let them speak it out as he pushed a hundred clams on Giuseppe's back. "keep em coming Giuseppe" he whispered, not about to owe nobody as his brother would say.


	5. Lights

Lenny had them all preoccupied, Lino knew that, but it was still a little unwise to just waltz up this much further than the wasteland, even with a crew. Still if he didn't get his message across they may face a greater threat than that. Made sharks were pretty much untouchable, he reflected, whoever was doing this to them knew that; they knew the risks they were taking. But Lino never really considered a made shark untouchable by his own boss. Which would make this a technicality. "So you see, Adriano." He finished explaining to the squirming technicality his orca muscle was holding down for him. "It's nothing personal, it's just business."

With that he took a good look at his rat's eye for a good target and went for the stab.

"What do we do with him, boss?" It was hard to say who'd asked, the blood was still settling.

"Business is settled. He's another boss' shark now. Drop him where you found him; let him finish whatever he was doing for whomever he was doin' it." He said, same dispassionate tone he used on Adriano before he killed him. It's hard to laugh at your boss' ironic murder when you were the one holding the corpse; so nobody did. They simply confirmed orders and took the stiff back to his turf.

'New guys…' he thought, how did they _think_he stayed in charge around here?

"You do realize he's terrified don't you?" It was that clipped tone, that clipped stern tone that told him the war- or whatever this was to be- was already lost. Lino looked at her from over the papers as he organized them. Merina never really took too deeply into the business, claiming the whole of it was too much to think about how her boys exposed themselves for the sake of an empire they may never even live to see. A game, she'd often called it when she was particularly angry. Right now, for example, she'd call it the game, opposed to the job, our thing or whatever other mood she was in at the moment.

"Of course I do, he took the whole tank with him; I'm still wondering where he carried it."

"Or who carried it for him. At least he wasn't completely alone, Lino, you should have gone with him." He put down the pencil and placed his fins on the table. He had a feeling he wasn't going to be doing anything else than listen for a good while here. But he may as well try. "I'm going to give you the benefit, Lino, if you would just talk to me; what pushed you? We talked about this; he's working, he's got friends and he's probably moving out soon. Is this about Prago?" She asked, already having connected enough dots as he thought about what to tell her. Talking about the business with her had become more difficult since Frankie.

He didn't like the angle she had from where she was swimming. Fair enough she probably hated being in front of the desk anyway. Which was probably why she went to sit on it: 28 years in and he had never been able to ask her off the damn desk, it had always been, well, hers. It had always been particularly amusing with people around who'd just gape at her for just looking down at them from it as if she owned it and everything else in the room and at the same time managing to make him look deadlier than he did with a dame sitting on his desk as easy as you please. The smile earned him a 'look'.

"Fine _don't_talk to me, but stay here when I talk to you." She snapped at the probably spaced out look he got there. This was getting him nowhere.

"Ever heard the expression-"

"Tell it to myself all the time." She cut him, not about to let him disarm her like that. "Again; why now? If you wanted an underboss there's lines of sharks falling over themselves for the job without attracting attention to Lenny like that."

"Because we have sharks turning on us now, that's why. They need to know their place now, not later." He explained. She had a point too but she already knew it. "We're not going to live forever, Merina, I need them to know he'll tear them apart." The look of pain on her expression made him realize he screwed up somewhere along the way.

"But he won't." She choked. "You know him, I know him; he wouldn't harm a soul."

"I hear he took the food right out of Giuseppe's plate. This was after he committed mass fraud against the local crime family, remember?" He tried reassuringly. "He'll be fine."

"Don't give me that, he put a hundred in Giuseppe's fin!" She said. She knew too much about the rules to sell her that, he should have known. "Lino I love you, you know that, and you're usually smart" the 'usually' was uncomfortable there "but he eats kelp, for goodness' sake! You can't expect him to kill a fish, let alone something bigger"

"We hire people for that, he made that clear enough-"

"He isn't Frankie, Lino." She despaired. "I thought we'd established that." That managed to disarm her and before he knew it; he'd pulled her closer and wrapped his fins around her so she'd have something to lean on, at the very least. Papers be damned. "They're gonna to eat him alive."

"They're not gonna eat him alive, Merina, hold on to your scarf." She reached to touch the thing on her head and gave him a look again.

"My scarf is fine." She said quickly, sounding annoyed that he bothered her about it. "You. Just tell me you know what you're doing, that this isn't as stupid as it sounds. I need you to tell me that."

"I know what I'm doing" He echoed, nodding his head side-to-side teasingly "and you know I'm being smart." This earned him a soft swat on the arm.

"Take this seriously!"

"I am taking it seriously."

"I don't know, Sykes says not to worry about it, so I worry about it." Angie explained, handling the phone and juggling the task with her boyfriend avoiding work- it was unbelievable, he had his dream-job and he still floated here. "I'm just saying he hasn't punched-in in days; he loves it here."

"He's not the only one missing either." Oscar agreed, glancing once at the other door. "No sign of any of them." Then there was what he'd told him. Problems outside- it was like watching from a fish tank in one of those horror movies where they'd take someone and shove them into a controlled tank with monstrous humans 'walking' around them with all those freakish limbs, not knowing when one of them would feed you or eat you in that cell. "Do you think something's wrong?"

"I've been _telling_you something's wrong." She answered, a little exasperated with him for it. "Maybe you could look into it, from your workplace? A-and he's going to use my phone." She trailed off, as if trying to tell the world how he got sometimes.

Oscar just reached over and took the phone, having swam around her to reach it and pressing numbers on it with his fin. "I'm just gonna tail-dial the octopus, no biggie, such an accident."

_"Oh you're just tail-dialing, no problem, be careful next time."_

"Oh Luca it's you! Man you pick up the phone quick, don't-cha? Which arm is it?" He just grinned at the way Angie shook her head at that, she looked too amused to really be disapproving anyway, though.

_"Third one in the 'array', you wouldn't understand. Is that why you called?"_Oscar made a face and shook his head at that- weird octopi.

"He actually answered." He mouthed at Angie's questioning look before asking. "Not really, I tail-dialed you, remember? But now that we're talking so many cool things: What has been happening? You guys know you don't have to be strangers around here." He prodded.

_"Well I really can't tell ya' that but tell ya' what; Sykes doesn't have to worry 'bout us for a few days, just tell 'im to keep his distance, the boss is in a mood."_ Oscar looked troubled enough for him when Luca realized he was talkin' and there was nothing more disrespectful than talkin'. _"Look I gotta leave ya. Ciao."_

Oscar shook his head. "Just said Lino was in a mood." He said, already having known these guys enough to know it was when they were being quiet when they were at their worse. "I should be getting back, tell me if Lenny calls you." He added, gently touching her fin once before swimming to get something, anything done.

At least he'd gotten rid of that harpoon, it made her nervous.

Merina took a look at the door every five seconds. She hated doing this the most but sometimes she just wondered: Which was how she found herself alone at Lino's office at this hour, looking into the drawers. The third to the row had the papers Lenny had gotten him in an envelope; what he had under it startled her a little. She placed it on the desk and spread it out, looking at the pictures and the titles; it was a long read.

They were agents. Fish that Lino suspected were in some sort of circle of trust within the FBI. She took the names into a little notebook she carried and put it in her purse before quickly starting to put the file away, catching the picture of 'agent Costa' which threatened to float away and closing the drawer.

She fed the piranhas, who looked at the food in mild interest but burped in content instead of eating it; hopefully Lenny didn't actually feed them anyone- who was she kidding? Hopefully he did, but he couldn't have, she knew her boy. She then left the office, exchanging a gentle greeting with Giuseppe and probably being the third person to ask if he was hungry.

"Nah, ma'am, forgedaboutit, for all the compensation I've gotten today I wish Lenny stole my plate every week." He laughed as she shook her head at him.

"Still, I'll fix you something up tomorrow." She said, obviously leaving out the unspoken _'better than you wedging a knife in my son's back'_and simply shrugging the motherly gesture as, just that, a motherly gesture. She'd learned long ago that the more predictably sweet you got, the more people were less likely to suspect you. "Why aren't you taking some rest, come to think of it?" She asked sweetly, patting him on the shoulder.

"Got watch-duty before bed, not too long though."

"You take care of yourself then." She said. "Ciao, Giuseppe."

"Thanks, ciao ma'am." He answered as she swam away; all she needed jotted down in her purse and nobody the wiser.

And what did he expect? How did they _think_Lino stayed in charge around here?

"I think you managed to piss them off."

"You THINK?" The squid flinched as the dark trench lit up in sudden eerie blue light; he hated house-calls for his boss but when they'd found Adriano's body he'd been pulled from his own home to answer for this. "And tell me, Craig, do you think Adriano thinks so too?" The laughter from the many... things... that lived down in that hole made Craig's own skin crawl from his pointed head to his tentacles.

"I don't think Adriano's doing much thinking with that harpoon wedged in his eye." He said, tone bitter, but the creatures found it quite humorous.

"Well, waste not want not." Was the smooth reply and Craig wished he wasn't here to see this mess. "Food, children." The blue light grew bright and there was a sudden mess of long sharp teeth, blood and blue lights that shot from the dark trench as the anglerfish school dragged the corpse into the more comfortable darkness to feed from it. It happened in a second and Craig almost missed the sudden spectacle but for the sudden roar of teeth and ravenous monsters.

"Lino still does have a sense of humor, I almost thought he'd lost it after spawning a few whelps in that boat." The massive creature reflected, pulling the serrated harpoon from the skeleton's eye when 'they' were done with it. "I even hear his wimpy son has piranhas now to do it for him. That's my style." He sounded hurt, the boss got terrifying when he sounded hurt.

"Boss, I won't fail you again." Craig said, backing away.

"You won't." Was the last thing the squid said before the sudden roar was heard again and the anglerfish colony made short work of him too.

**A/N:** Some of you asked me to make Lenny's mom a more significant part of this fanfic and I sat down to think about it and how I would write her into the plot. Then I realized it has been the best thing you guys have suggested; thank you! The role I'm going to give her is really enjoyable to write so I have you guys to thank for it: It hadn't occurred to me before.

Also know I opened a Deviantart account, it's marked as my webpage here and there's probably going to be some Cosa Nostra fan art over there and a few other good shark-tale related things, like links to the club and some other art, so it's there if you guys want to check it out.

I know the chapters are short; I'm trying to work on this, I guess that's what we're all here for; to improve. Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them.


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